Kohima, November 1 (MTNews): The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) has reiterated its stand pertaining to the superannuation age of the medical doctors in the state of Nagaland and has appealed to the doctors on strike to reconsider their stand. NSF said that it has resolved to demand the Government of Nagaland to maintain status quo with regard to the superannuation age of medical doctors and all other services in the state.
NSF president Kegwayhun Tep stated in a press release on Tuesday that NSF is the pioneering organization that about the current policy regulating the ‘retirement age’ of the state government employees, adding that their leaders even resorted to ‘Fast unto Death’ to bring the matter to its logical conclusion. He said that the federation has been closely following the developments pertaining to the demands of the Nagaland In-service Doctors Association (NIDA) for their retirement age to be enhanced to 62 years.
“In light of the NIDA’s demand and taking into account the prolonged struggle the NSF had undergone to bring about the existing ‘retirement policy’ of the state government employees, the matter was thoroughly deliberated in a number of Federal Assemblies and Presidential council meetings of the Federation,” the NSF president said.
Stating that the Federation is constraint to publicly reiterate its unwavering stand pertaining to the superannuation age of medical doctors in the state of Nagaland, the NSF said it has resolved to demand the Government of Nagaland to government, it is compelled to state that NIDA’s demands are not justified as the state cabinet has on April 21, 2022 yielded to their previous demands. As per the April 21cabinet decision, the government decided to enhance the superannuation age of all medical doctors including AYUSH and Dental doctors, from 60 to 62 years of age through re-employment as a consultant /Senior Consultant/specialist to work in the hospitals and clinics, NSF said.
“This was done after the state cabinet thoroughly perused the government of India instructions/guidelines on the matter. It should be noted that the state government has all the rights to legislate and decide on the retirement age of the Medical Doctors without any interference from the central government as ‘Public Health’ is a state subject,” NSF pointed out.
Further, NSF said the claim by NIDA that all the states in India have yielded to the PMs announcement except for Nagaland and Meghalaya is misleading the public. “One example contrary to this claim is the state of Haryana, wherein, the retirement age of medical doctors was brought down to 58 from 65 years of age with the opportunity of re-employment to the doctors of both the cadres of medical and dental of Health Department, on yearly basis up-to 65 years of age subject to certain criteria,” NSF said.
“The Federation appeals to the doctors on strike to reconsider their stand in the interest of the general public and to safeguard the future of the young upcoming generation. This, while keeping in mind the resource crunch and the paucity of the employment opportunities in the state,” it added.